rice again

Hong Kong and Taiwanese Food in the Suzhou SIP that delivers.

Nick — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:14:01 +0000

While the scene is changing rapidly, western food in Suzhou is more often than not a disappointment and while Sherpas is great in principle, their delivery fee is exorbitant and the food is often a cop-out by the restaurants. This is why I thought I’d share with you two great Chinese alternatives in the Suzhou SIP [...]

The Wall Street Journal: The Culture of Taiwan

Nick — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:06:07 +0000

In my previous post I alluded slightly to the trend of down playing individual Taiwanese indentities in favour of the blanket term zhonghua minzu, or “Chinese people,” as a means culturally annexing the Island to the Peoples Republic of China. In case you were wondering what I was babbling about, this nearly hot of the press [...]

The negligible “soft power” of Taiwanese pop

Nick — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:30:26 +0000

Last night while exploring the interwebs I stumbled upon this great report on the Taiwanese Pop scene and subsequently tweeted about it. The report covers the Taiwanese music scene from the “idol” shows on TV, the Taiwanese pop scene (arguably one of Taiwan’s most prolific exports to the Mainland), indie and briefly touches on the “Symphonic [...]

I’m back, I think, and I brought food.

Nick — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 12:24:26 +0000

Been a while since I updated, @thehumanaught introduced me to Twitter an it kind of owned me there for a little while. That coupled with the fact that I’ve been on a bit of a western food binge recently, which isn’t really the focus of this blog, that and working and did I mention twittering? In [...]

Images of Pyongyang From a Young Chinese Perspetive

Nick — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:59:58 +0000

I came across the following flickr photostream via my good mate Tom. A great set of pics taken in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea a place that I’ve been fascinated about since I read Guy-Delisle’s graphic novel Pyongyang. She writes: Will not be able to describe North Korea in just a few words. The North Korean [...]

Suzhou Harmony Times Square Update

Nick — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 11:04:52 +0000

Today we decided to head out in the cold to check out the new Harmony Times Square (圆融时代广场) complex and 久光百货 (the japanese) jiu guang department store. Harmony Times Square has been eagerly awaited in suzhou since it was promised to open in September 2007 and since then there have been a number of false [...]

Food Poisoning

Nick — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:16:19 +0000

On my way down to my local Hualian supermarket today after work to buy my evening beer stocks, I noticed that a little Xinjiang restaurant had opened up in the block of shops nearby. The local Xinjiang noodle shop, in China is a formula homogenized across the nation from the menu right down to the [...]

Recycling Your Pet?

Nick — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:22:52 +0000

In China, unlike Taiwan or any other country I’ve lived, there is a very cordial attitude to pets and animals. In Suzhou’s bird and flower market, pets are traded and bred as commodities with little regard for their use-by date or shelf life. What surprises me, however is the attitude of expats here towards their [...]

Shanghai Tilt-Shift Photography

Nick — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 10:50:52 +0000

Today I’ve been playing with Tilt-Shift Maker The cheats way to make photographs look like intricately made models. Here is a link to the Wikipedia page on Tilt-Shift Photography, though all I have to know is it looks cool. Link to the original in decade null’s flickr photo stream. Flickr Tilt-Shift Group

Running From Something?

Nick — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:44:17 +0000

I found it interesting to read via This is China Blog, that the Kunshan government are using similar methods used to track hydroponic Marijuana growing operations in New Zealand to predict which companies there are about to do a runner without properly liquidating their assets, paying their staff or tying things up the way they [...]